Also known as painful intercourse syndrome, vulvodynia is an often-oversimplified diagnosis for a very complicated and debilitating syndrome. Pudendal neuralgia is inflammation of the pudendal nerve. This condition causes burning or stabbing pain in the genitals, urethra or anus. The pain often gets worse over the course of a day and is exacerbated by sitting. Both conditions make sex incredibly painful.
Sex should not cause you persistent pain. It can get better. You’re not alone.

September 24, 2007

My First Diagnosis...of many

After an entire semester of sexual pain, classes ended and I went home. I had three months of rest and recovery. No sex. No pain. No burning. Then I went to my gynecologist for my annual checkup.

When she inserted the speculum, I screamed. It was the same piercing, jolting pain I felt every time, but worse, because I wasn't expecting it. I remember lying on my back with tears rolling down my temples and into my hair.

The doctor found some inflammation and told me to abstain from sex for at least a month. I told her I hadn't had sex in close to two months, which prompted her to inquire about my sexual history. Vulvodynia was the diagnosis she gave me, and with it, she wrote a prescription for Amitriptalene. She explained that in vulvodynia, the skin in that area is less resilient and a low dose antidepressant can help the skin recover better. She also wrote me a new prescription for Xylocane jelly.

I felt encouraged to learn that medication could make me better. At the same time, I felt ashamed. There really was something wrong with me, but I couldn't talk about it with my parents and I didn't want my partner to know.

I thought, "What person would ever want to be with someone who is sexually dysfunctional?"

I found myself feeling even more alone and discouraged than I had sitting in that drawer in my dorm room.